By Dr. Kaye Whitehead In 1926, during the nadir of Black history, Dr. Carter G. Woodson—the founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), the son of formerly enslaved parents, a former sharecropper and miner, and the second Black person to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University—launched the first […]
Category: Opinion
You actually don’t care where Jill Stein is…
Dayvon Love serves as director of public policy for the Baltimore-based think tank, Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle. This week, he speaks to the question “Where is Jill Stein?” and how it functions as a deflection, shielding liberals from confronting the Democratic Party’s long-standing, exploitative relationship with working-class Black voters.
Opinion: ‘You will see me’: A Black woman CEO’s declaration
By Chrissy M. Thornton I have spent my career learning how to lead with vision, discipline, empathy and results. I believe I have earned my seat – through education, experience, sacrifice and outcomes. Yet still, as a Black woman CEO, I am routinely reminded that credentials do not inoculate you from dismissal; that power, in […]
Opinion: When eviction means losing everything in Baltimore
Eddie Blackstone, Baltimore Organizer at the Community Development Network and Albert Turner, Human Right to Housing Attorney at the Public Justice Center, say despite a federal appeals court ruling that says Baltimore’s abandonment law is unconstitutional, the city fails to act more than a year later.
Claudette Colvin, MLK, and the erasure of Black women from civil rights canon
Claudette Colvin, a civil rights activist who challenged segregation as a teenager, is pictured years after her historic arrest that preceded the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Julienne Louis Anderson, a lifelong educator, womanist and a fellow of The OpEd Project in partnership with the National Black Child Development Institute, argues that Colvin’s story, long excluded from textbooks and curricula, reflects the broader erasure of Black women from the Civil Rights Movement.
How Baltimore City’s project labor agreement harms local workers, risks higher future water bills
Sheila Dixon, former mayor of Baltimore, currently serves as marketing director for the Maryland Minority Contractors Association. This week, she weighs in on what the city’s project labor agreement for water pumping stations could mean for Black contractors and their employees.
Our boys deserve better: Why Baltimore must protect its only all-male public school
By Walter Fields Do our boys really matter? That is the question I have pondered since learning that Baltimore City Public Schools is threatening to not renew the charter of Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys (BCSB). This school is the only all-male, public school of its kind in Maryland, and provides a safe and nurturing […]
Is it density or destruction? A look at the Housing Options and Opportunities Act
By Nneka Nnamdi Council Bill 25-0066, otherwise known as the Housing Options and Opportunities Act, is a part of Mayor Brandon Scott’s plan to bring down housing costs by making it lawful to create 2-4 units in a single structure that is greater than 1,500 sq ft. The logic of the bill seems to be […]
Crypto firms: Wolves in banks’ clothing
n this commentary, attorney and educator Alice T. Crowe warns that major cryptocurrency firms are positioning themselves as banks without being subject to the same consumer protections, posing heightened risks for Black communities. She argues that crypto companies deliberately target Black consumers—through celebrity endorsements, Bitcoin ATMs in Black neighborhoods, and promises of liberation from racist banking systems—while offering little recourse against fraud, volatility, or loss, potentially deepening existing racial wealth gaps rather than closing them.
Opinion: Dr. King’s Poor People’s Campaign foretold America’s affordability crisis
Rising costs and stagnant wages have pushed affordability to a crisis point for working families in 2026. Charlene Crowell, a senior fellow with the Center for Responsible Lending, argues that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Poor People’s Campaign foresaw these challenges and that its call for economic justice remains urgently relevant today.
The power of “no”: Reclaiming boundaries in a world that demands ‘yes’
Maurice Carroll, founder of Alkemmust Sound Healing, is a music producer, teacher and author. This week, he shares his thoughts on using and understanding the word “no,” to protect boundaries and fully enjoy life.
We can save Black mothers — if we better prepare Black fathers
Joshua Liston Zawadi, a Dad Doula and a public voices fellow of the OpEd Project in partnership with the National Black Child Development Institute, argues that improving Black maternal health requires intentionally preparing and empowering Black fathers to be active advocates before, during and after birth. Drawing from his experiences as a father and “dad doula,” he highlights how sidelining fathers in maternity care weakens family outcomes and supports policies like the Dads Matter Act of 2025 that center fathers as vital members of the care team.

